The Staircase
The contrast between the imposing staircase in the 18th-century revival style that connects the study to the floor above, and the narrow space of the stairwell decorated with floral moldings is counterbalanced by the light colours of the walls and the serpentine line of the banister. The moldings offer a perfect frame for a gallery of 20th-century works so rich and extraordinary as to induce a feeling of dizziness, an authentic Stendhal syndrome, in visitors.
The collector chose to hang the lower part of the staircase near the door to the study with three paintings characterised by use of the same support, namely jute: two late 1930s works by Paul Klee and Femme et oiseau II/X (Woman and Bird II/X, 1960) by Joan Miró. As we proceed upwards, the space is devoted to the portrait genre, with Donna dal vestito giallo (Woman in a Yellow Dress, 1918) by Amedeo Modigliani, a self-portrait on paper (Autoritratto, 1912) by Gino Severini, and Antigrazioso (Antigraceful, 1912) by Umberto Boccioni, dominated from above by Francis Bacon’s Study for Portrait IX (1956–57). Seen in the light of the previous works, Felice Casorati’s large work in tempera entitled Mattino (Morning, 1919–20) also seems to reveal its nature as a group portrait.
On the upper floor, the saturated colours of Fernand Léger’s Le Compas (Still Life with Compass, 1926) create unexpected friction with the period style of their setting and highlight the complexity of a collector capable of moving intelligently between different eras and forms of expression. The dizzying spiral closes with two enticing female figures in the same pose, the subjects of Alberto Savinio’s Voilà mon rêve (Behold My Dream, 1928) and Scipione’s Risveglio della bionda sirena (Awakening of the Blonde Mermaid, 1929). There is also room for some small-sized paintings on the far wall, including Pablo Picasso’s Oiseau sur une branche (Bird on a Branch, 1913), an abstract seascape by Nicolas De Staël and a painting by Miró (both 1952).
